VIRAL NEWS

Latest on The Dark Knight Viral - Clown Travel Agency and April 1st News!

by Alex Billington
March 31, 2008
Source: SuperHeroHype Boards

Yet another big update has arrived from The Dark Knight's ever-growing viral marketing campaign. Where we last left off on Wednesday was the introduction of a new Gotham Times newspaper and numerous other websites in connection with it, which were primarily focused on Harvey Dent and the upcoming election. On Sunday, Harvey Dent himself made new phone calls again, this time asking for more support due to a recent smear campaign launched against him. And for those in support of the Joker, he made some phone calls too, on top of posting his freshly defaced version of the newspaper called The HaHaHa Times. Something big is definitely going down on April 1st. Ready for all the details?

I've been following these latest developments very closely, waiting for an opportunity to jump on something unique (like the cell phones last time). We'll cover the basic details so that if you wish to get more involved, you can start researching everything further on your own.

After the new issue of TheGothamTimes.com launched, the Joker followed up with his defaced version - TheHaHaHaTimes.com. Like last year, the newspaper featured numerous coded messages that were deciphered for the next step in the viral campaign. However, this time it was a "red herring", a dud that lead to nowhere. It was later discovered that phone calls to Joker phones would provide the next clue.

In addition, Harvey Dent made phone calls to all of his supports on Sunday with the following message:

"Hello, this is Harvey Dent. Weeks ago, I asked for your support… Concerned Citizens For A Better Gotham have started a smear campaign against me. Their claims are absolutely untrue, and while their lies show just how nervous my campaign makes the criminals and the corrupt, their attacks can destroy our chances of taking Gotham back. So I ask you, help me unmask these forces behind this deceit; help me prove these charges false. Time is running out. Please go to ibelieveinharveydent.com and find out how you can fight back, stand up for what's right, and reclaim our city. Thank you."

An urgent announcement was been posted on the I Believe in Harvey Dent website calling out for support of Harvey and mentioning that he will appear at a Townhall Meeting on April 1st at 3PM. Thanks to everyone who sent me messages regarding the phone call, including bltzie and Heckle.

The smear campaign that is being run against Harvey has a website of their own too - ccfabg.org - Concerned Citizens For A Better Gotham. There you can watch a scripted political video that talks about how bad of a person Dent is. At the bottom it mentions that the CCFABG was founded by Joseph Candoloro, a lawyer whom also has a website - JosephCandoloro.com. If you plug in his name on the St. Swithuns Church website, you can see his marriage certificate, which links him to his wife, who can also be searched on the church website.

Back on the topic of the election, a website for Harvey's other competitor, Roger Garcetti, has also popped up - TrustGarcetti.com. Now all three of the individuals who are running for Gotham City District Attorney have their political websites - Harvey Dent, Dana Worthington, and Roger Garcetti. Who do you support now that you know the contenders?

Following all of these reveals, the Joker made phone calls to the owners of the 17 cell phones distributed in cakes last year. The message went as follows (via Hollywood Chicago):

"Hey clown, ready to get to work? (I replied 'yes'.) Ok, good. You are 1 of 17 clowns still left in the game (remember, there were 22 phones initially) I have a letter for you. Here is your secret letter… are you ready for it? Your secret letter is 'L' as in 'Laugh'. Can you remember that? Good. Now get to work and tell all of your goons. We'll be in touch soon."

The 17 letters were an anagram that took quite a while to figure out, especially when about three of the people holding phones were unreachable all day. However, in the end it was solved and a brand new website was discovered - ClownTravelAgency.com. If you take a look at that site, you'll see a suitcase with travel stickers from the US, Canada, London, Hong Kong, Paris, and Sao Paulo, Brazil. An enevelop at the bottom reads "Departure Date 4-01".

That is the very latest with the entire viral campaign, but given there are two mentions of something happening on April 1st, we can expect more updates tomorrow. Thanks to all of the guys over at the SuperHeroHype Boards for doing all the hard work and figuring this out! Stay tuned for more updates as we hear them!

Find more posts: Hype, Viral Marketing

8 Comments

New comments are no longer allowed on this post.